THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for that warm
welcome. Winter wouldn't just be right without a trip to New
Hampshire. (Laughter.) I've got some fond
memories of your great state: candle pin bowling --
(laughter) -- sledding down hills -- (laughter) -- and the
people. What a great state you've got. Governor,
thank you for coming. I'm honored you're
here. (Applause.)

Madam President, thank you for opening up the
university. It's an honor to be on this
campus. Sorry I don't have time to watch the hockey team
play. (Laughter.) They tell me they're pretty
good. (Laughter.) It's good to be with Bob Smith
and John Sununu. Thank you both for being here as
well. (Applause.)

I want to thank all the students who are here. My advice
is, listen to your mother. (Laughter and
applause.) I'm still listening to
mine. (Laughter.) I do want to -- like Judd, I
want to thank those of the National Guard who are here, those who serve
in the guard and those families of guardspeople who have been called up
to active duty. I want to tell you that your families are
engaged in a noble and just cause. We will not let
terrorists stand. (Applause.)

You know, the enemy made a big mistake. They didn't
understand America. They thought because of our richness,
that we were soft, that we didn't believe in anything, that we weren't
willing to stand up for what we think is right. And they're
paying a dear price for messing with America. (Applause.)

I want the youngsters here to understand that this war is really
about your future, that we fight not to seek revenge, but we fight to
protect America and freedom. A system that is so far and so
optimistic and so just, that this nation is making sacrifices so that
your children and your grandchildren can grow up in peace.

I long for peace. But so long as there is terror and
evil that want to do harm to the American people, I will not relent,
and I will not tire until we bring them to
justice. (Applause.) We have an important mission
overseas, and we've got an important mission at home. And we
must never lose sight of this mission. And that's to make
sure every single child, every child, receives a first-class
education.

The hope of the future of this country is not only to make sure
that we're secure, and we're safe, but the true hope for the country is
to make sure everybody gets a good education. This morning,
I signed a significant piece of legislation, a major piece of reform,
and I did so in John Boehner's district in Ohio. Most of the
time, you sign a piece of legislation at the White House. I
chose to sign it at one of our most precious assets that we have in
America, and that was in a public school. (Applause.)

I did so because I want the country to remember that we've got to
battle illiteracy and hopelessness through quality
education. This was a significant work done by the
Congress. My friend, Judd Gregg, had a lot to do with it,
and that's why we've come to New Hampshire, to not only praise the
legislation, but to praise his
work. (Applause.) He's not a real chatty kind of
guy. (Laughter.) But when he talks, people
actually pay attention. He did really good work, as did the
other three leaders on this stage. I emphasize the word
"leaders," because it would have been easy to quit on the
process. It would have been easy to allow the process to
dissipate into the same old, tired politics that dominates -- sometimes
dominate Washington. That's that attitude that said, I can't
work with anybody of a different political party.

Folks, this bill I signed today shows what can happen when good
people get together. It is more important to focus on our
children than political parties in the country. (Applause.)

Big George Miller out of California came to the --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What about the dead Afghani children,
Mr. Bush? What about the dead Afghani children?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, President
Bush! (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Big George is out of
California. He came to the Governor's Mansion to talk about
public education when I was still the Governor. I was
heading to Washington. And he's from the different side of
the political aisle, and, frankly, the ideological spectrum than I
am. And yet, he shares the same passion I have, and that is
that we can't allow any systems and schools to exist that simply
shuffle children through -- that every person matters. We
decided right then and there, we're going to put aside our differences
and see if we couldn't work together. And we did.

John Boehner from Ohio, he and George used to battle occasionally,
because they let their party labels get in the way. But they
did magnificent work on the floor of the House of Representatives.

And of course, some of the folks in Crawford Coffee Shop will be
amazed to hear me say that I like Ted
Kennedy. (Applause.) I will tell you
this: If you have a legislative battle, you want him on your
side, you don't want him against
you. (Laughter.) He made an enormous difference,
as did Judd, in passing a piece of legislation that sets high standards
and high expectations; one that provides greater resources; one that
understands the role of parents in public education. This a
good piece of legislation for which America should be
proud. (Applause.)

I want to thank my friend, Rod Paige, for being here as
well. Rod is the Secretary of Education. He was
the Superintendent at the Houston Independent School
District. I figured that anybody that could survive being
superintendent of the Houston Independent School District can survive
Washington. (Applause.) His job will be to make
sure that the piece of legislation that I signed this morning is
implemented in the spirit of the legislation, the principles involved
remain intact.

And I want to share those principles with you. I wish
the bill were here. It's about this
tall. (Laughter.) I haven't read it all
yet. (Laughter.) In my line of work, they give
you an executive briefing. (Laughter.) But I know
the principles involved in the bill, and I want to share some of those
with you.

One of the key principles in this bill is that we must hold schools
accountable for results. And so therefore, if you receive
federal money, in return for federal money, the states, not the federal
government, the states must develop a test for third through eighth
graders on reading and math. (Applause.)

For the first time at the federal level, we've asked a simple
question: Is our money being spent wisely? Are
people learning? I want to quote to you what a young girl
said from New York City. She said, "I don't even remember taking
exams. They just kept passing me along. I ended
up dropping out in the 7th grade. I basically felt that
nobody cared."

You see, in some schools, it is so much easier to take a look at
the classroom and say, let's just move them through. In some
school districts in some parts of our country, it is so much easier to
walk into a classroom full of kids who may not supposed to be able to
learn, and say, we're just going to move you along. We don't
really care what you know. That day is going to end in
America. Every child matters. (Applause.)

I'm sure there's somebody out there saying, I don't like to take
tests. Tough. (Laughter.) We want to
know. We need to know. We need to know whether a
curriculum is working. We need to know whether the teachers,
the methodology that teachers use is working. We need to
know whether or not people are learning. And if they are,
there will be hallelujahs all over the place. But if not, we
intend to do something about it.

Now, we're going to say, if you fail schools, you've got some time
to correct yourselves. You've got some time to take remedial
action. Not only will you have time, but there will be
incentives and additional resources for you to improve. In
other words, when we find failure, we're going to do something about
it. We're going to take corrective action in society.

But if a school can't change, if a school can't show the parents,
and the community leaders that they can teach the basics, something
else has to take place. In order for there to be
accountability, there has to be consequences. And the
consequence in this bill is that after a period of time, if a parent is
tired of their child being trapped into a failed school, that parent
will have different options: public school choice, charters,
and private tutoring. (Applause.)

One of Judd Gregg's contributions to this bill was the advocated
supplemental services, and the resources to back them up. He
basically said that parents whose children go to failed schools must be
given different alternatives. These children must be given
an opportunity to receive additional education if the status quo is
unacceptable.

And so, when we say no child is left behind, the cornerstone of
that is accountability, coupled with consequences in the accountability
system. The third principle involved in this bill is you've
got to trust the local people to make the decisions for the
schools. The people of New Hampshire understand how to run
their school system. (Applause.)

This bill passes power out of Washington and provides flexibility
for the governors who, in turn, I hope, provide flexibilities for the
local districts. Listen, we have the Teacher of the Year
here, and I want to thank her and I want to thank all the teachers who
are in this auditorium. There is nothing more that expresses
our confidence, that says more about our confidence in you, than
saying, we're going to give you all the power you need to make the
right decisions for the classrooms in which you
teach. (Applause.)

Local control, flexibility, less strings from Washington really
means that parents and teachers and community activists must not be
bystanders when it comes to making sure every child
learns. It's really important.

A lot of people after 9/11 said, what can I do to help in
America? What can I do to make America a better
place? You can support your public schools. You
can mentor a child. You can teach a child to
read. You can make sure your child turns off their TV at
night, so they can learn to read better. You can make
education the number one priority in your
neighborhood. (Applause.)

And while we're waging war overseas, we're after illiteracy here at
home. One of the most appalling statistics of our great land
is the illiteracy rate amongst poor children. It's really
high at the fourth grade level, and that's unacceptable. I
think Chairman Boehner said about 70 percent of the fourth grade
impoverished children can't read. If you can't read in the
fourth grade, you're likely not to be able to read in the eighth
grade. And if you can't read in the eighth, you're likely
not be able to read in high school. And if you can't read in
high school, you're likely to fall into a life that -- a life of
despair, and hopelessness. And that's not right in America.

And so therefore, this bill pays attention to
reading. It's got a lot of money in it, to develop programs
that work. I'm tired, and I know these congressional leaders
are tired, of putting money into programs that don't
work. Well, in reading, we know what works. It's
time to fund curriculum and teacher training programs and reading
programs not based upon what sounds good, or some theory, but based
upon what works, so that children can learn to read in
America. (Applause.)

We are focusing on early reading initiatives, so that the country
can achieve this goal: every child be reading at grade level
by the third grade. That's an achievable
goal. It's one that's going to insist upon -- making sure
we've got accountability standards, flexibility, resource -- focusing
our resources, and using the things that work, proven curriculum.

But we can do that in America. We can achieve this
objective. We can meet this goal. And when we do,
America will be a much better place.

You know, after 9/11, a lot of us have taken a hard look at how we
live our lives, you know, the meaning of life. And that's
good for our country. It's been an incredibly positive
experience for Americans to sit around their dinner table, and moms and
dads to take a look at their kids and say, you know
something? Being a mom or dad is the most important job I'll
ever have. It's been good for our country to -- for people
to go to their houses of worship and pray for guidance. It's
been good for our country for people to say, gosh, I want to fight
terror by being kind to somebody else. And it's going to be
good for our country, good for our country, when we as a nation focus
on education again, focus on making sure our public education is the
best school system in the entire world. That's what America
is about. (Applause.)

It has been an honor for me to travel and to work with the four men
on the stage who have made this bill possible. They have
shown the country what can happen when good, honorable people set their
minds on getting something done. They have shown that when
you work with an administration, that when you set clear goals, and you
set aside all the bickering, and you push aside all those on the
fringes, trying to tear down the process, that good people from both
parties can achieve something strong for America. And that's
exactly what we've done.